Rain

It was raining hard when he stepped out of the house and went into the garage to start the car. He’d forgotten his umbrella and got soaked in the few feet of open space between the two doors. It was an 88 Ford. Rusted and decaying. Maybe it used to be red now it was more of a light pink. The sun and wind and god damn this rain had made a difference over the years. Buckled in and revving the engine. The gearshift was loose so he had to be careful when sliding it into reverse. Wouldn’t want to miss the mark and go tearing through the back of the garage with palms sweating as plaster came tumbling down and let that damn rain into the cluttered and dusty. He reversed out into the street checking both sides before continuing on down the street and away from the soft orange glow of his porch light. The radio was on spilling the 1930s out from the dashboard and onto the floor of the car with sounds of old jazz and boop-boop-boop of trumpets flaring up and scratching the speakers with too-high notes. He flicked the windshield wipers on and damn this rain the headlights too. There it was on the right that old oak tree on the corner that looked like it was going to fall over any moment now and crush the next car that passed which would be his and he got a little nervous and edged over to the other side of the road even into oncoming traffic that beeped long and hard at him but didn’t think to look at the dying tree in this god damn rain that might come crushing down at any moment and forget about wearing a seatbelt it would be too late at that point tale over. But it didn’t and he swerved back in time with the echoing long-lasting horn trailing off behind him the driver still angry even though he’d already passed and driven onward through the darkness and blurred vision of this god damn rain. This is he says the last time I ever forget to pay the rent on time.